Bipolar used to be called manic/depressive which is more desc<x>riptive. One minute you are manic in your actions and the next depressed. Anger can be an issue, going out of control over little things. <br /><br />There are online tests but the best thing is to be tested by a GP

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serious shifts in mood, energy, thinking, and behavior–from the highs of mania on one extreme, to the lows of depression on the other. More than just a fleeting good or bad mood, the cycles of bipolar disorder last for days, weeks, or months. And unlike ordinary mood swings, the mood changes of bipolar disorder are so intense that they interfere with your ability to function.<br />During a manic episode, a person might impulsively quit a job, charge up huge amounts on credit cards, or feel rested after sleeping two hours. During a depressive episode, the same person might be too tired to get out of bed and full of self-loathing and hopelessness over being unemployed and in debt.

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Seek professional advice, but my understanding is bipolar is a mood disorder, characterized by periods of depression (bad moods) and mania (good moods). According to conventional medicine, you may be bipolar if excessive good or bad moods take over your life for more than a few weeks, and however high you go you go equally low, and dangerously close to suicide. I heard of another kind of bi-polar where the swings happen faster, rather than over the course of weeks. Bipolar people can look back over their life and identify when they were high (manic) and when they were low (depressed). Mania can also include psychosis or high risk behavior due to outlandish self-perceptions of grandiosity.

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approximately one in seven people suffers from bipolar disorder with symptoms usually orginating among men and women in their early tewnties and sometimes occurring in children and adolescents. the mood swings that people with bipolar disorder cycle through are vastly different from the moods of an average individual. in adults their manic or depressive episodes can easily last up to weeks or even months. a teenager suffering from bipolar disorder can go through cyclesof mania and depression over the course of a single day. sometimes the episodes are unpredictable and will come on without warning other times the episodes follow a pattern that goes along with the changing of the seasons. rapid cycling of moods (at least four or more per year) is more common in women children and adolescents whereas slow mood changes over time are seen more frequently in adult men